This invention relates to a container comprising at least one plane side wall and a lid having a plane inner side and being attached to said plane side wall by means of a hinge.

More specifically the invention relates to a paint container moulded from a plastic material.

A prior art paint container comprises a plane bottom wall, four plane side walls extending vertically upwards from the periphery of the bottom wall and a removable lid which can be snapped onto the upper edges of the four side walls defining the opening of the container.

The application of paint to plane surfaces such as walls was previously effected by means of brushes only. During the later years, however, paint rollers have gained widespread acceptance for use in the application of paint to various surfaces.

The saturation of a paint roller can be obtained by dipping the paint roller into the paint contained in a conventional container used for the transportation and storage of paint. However this method does not ensure a uniform saturation of the paint roller with paint and consequently the paint coat formed during the subsequent application becomes non-uniform. Furthermore small drops of paint tend to splash out from the rotating paint roller.

US patent specification No. 3.828.389 discloses a paint container with a cover which is hinged to the container and which has such a shape that it forms a horizontally extending paint retaining tray when the cover is in open condition.

Before using the combined container and tray, the tray portion is swung into the paint retaining position and the container portion is tilted towards the tray portion so that a predetermined amount of paint is flowed into the tray. This operation has to be repeated at intervals during the painting process.

The object of the invention is to provide a paint container which comprises a convenient flat surface whereupon a paint roller may be rolled after it has been dipped into the paint and which is ready for use as soon as it has been opened.

This object and other objects which will appear from the following description are obtained with the container of the invention which is characterized in that it comprises means for maintaining the lid in a position in which the plane inner side thereof forms an extension of the adjoining plane side wall.

When a paint container of the invention has been opened and the lid has been placed in the position in which its inner side forms an extension of the plane side wall the user can dip a paint roller in the paint and roll the paint roller up and down over the essentially continuous plane surface extending from the surface of the paint to the top edge of the lid until the paint has been uniformly distributed over the whole cylindrical surface of the paint roller which is then ready for application of the paint. Excess amounts of paint which are squeezed out of the paint roller during this opera¬ tion will automatically flow back into the container and can thus be reused.

When the painting operation has been completed the lid merely has to be turned down into its closing position and will thus prevent unacceptable evaporation of solvent or other volatile components of the paint.

In a preferred embodiment of the container of the invention the inner side of the lid comprises a pluralty of ribs, e.g. parallel ribs which facilitate the uniform distribution of paint over the cyl ndrical surface of a paint roller when it is moved up and down over the inner side of the lid.

The plane side wall to which the lid is hinged is preferably also provided with a plurality of ribs serving the same function as the ribs on the inner side of the lid.

The lid holding means preferably comprises a handle with ends attached to the container in such a manner that the handle can be swung about an axis which is parallel to the hinge between the plane side wall and the lid and means provided on the lid for locking the handle and lid together in the above-mentioned position of the lid.

The exterior side of the lid preferably comprises flanges extending outwardly from the lid surface at least at the ends of the lid and in a preferred embodiment of the invention there are provided incissions in said projecting flanges said incissions having such a shape that the handle can be inserted and locked therein.

This embodiment is particularly advantagous because the locking means thus provided do not prevent a pluralty of containers from being stacked on top of one another.

When the paint roller is rolled over the inner side of the lid in order to obtain a uniform distribution of paint over its cylindrical surface a pressure will be exerted on the lid. Therefore, the hinge between the lid and the plane side wall should be capable of resisting a certain pressure without risking that the lid is disengaged from the side wall.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the hinge between the lid and the plane side wall comprises a first arc-shaped hinge member extending from the edge of the lid and a second arc-shaped hinge member extending from the upper edge of the plane side wall, the first hinge member overlapping the second one over part of the length of the hinge and the second overlapping the first over the remaining part of the length of the hinge.

Such a hinge which comprise alternating overlapping hinge members is functionally stable and is simple to manufacture by moulding. Furthermore it is capable of resisting relatively high mechanical forces in the open position of the lid without risking that the hinge members are disengaged from one another.

A further advantage of the hinge described above is that the lid can

be attached to and disengaged from the container by snapping, which is of great importance in connection with mass production of the containers.

Preferably the container comprises a plate member extending substantially vertically from the arc-shaped hinge member attached to the plane side wall and having such a height that the upper edge thereof is in contact with or located adjacent to the inner surface of the arc-shaped hinge member of the lid when the lid is in the position in which it forms an extension of the plane side wall. Due to the presence of the plate member the penetration into the hinge of paint flowing down over the lid when it is maintained in the position where it forms an extension of the side wall will be insignificant.

If the hinged lid does not offer a satisfactory protection of the contents of the container during transportation and storage and before the container is opened for the first time it may be desirable to attach, e.g. by welding, a protective membrane to the side walls of the container at a suitable distance above the surface of the material present therein.

The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a container of the invention with a closed lid

Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the container shown in Fig. 1 with an open lid

Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show perspective views of portions of the hinge member of the lid and the hinge member of the side wall, respectively, of a particulary preferred embodiment of the container of the invention

Fig. 5 shows the hinge members illustrated in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 in assembled form and with closed lid and

Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 show two cross sectional views of the assembled hinge illustrated in Fig. 5.

The container illustrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 is particularly suitable as a paint container and comprises a bucket 1 having two side walls 2 and 3 and two end walls 4 and 5 and a bottom wall (not shown). A plurality of parallel projecting ribs 6 are provided on the inner side of the side wall 2. The ends of a handle 7 are attached to the end walls 4 and 5 of the bucket 1, the ends being inserted in fastening means 8 which allow the handle 7 to swing about an axis through said fastening means 8.

A lid 9 is hinged to the side wall 2 and the hinge is constructed in such a manner that the lid from the position shown in Fig. 1 can be swung into the position shown in Fig. 2 where it forms an extension of the side wall 2. A protecting flange 10 is provided along the periphery of the lid 2 and the flange 10 comprises two incissions 11 which are of such a shape that the handle 7 can be inserted and retained in the incissions 11 when the lid is in the position shown in Fig. 2.

A plurality of parallel projecting ribs 12 is provided on the inner side of the lid 9, the ribs 12 corresponding to the ribs 6 on the inner side of the side wall 2.

The hinge illustrated in Figs. 3-7 comprises two parts, viz. a hinge member which is attached to the lid 9 (cf. Fig. 3) and a hinge member, which is attached to the side wall 2.

The hinge member of the lid 9 comprises a centrally located downwardly extending arc-shaped member 20 and to additional downwardly extending arc-shaped members 21 located at the ends of the hinge, the radius of curvature of the latter members 21 being less than the radius of curvature of the central member 20.

The side wall 2 comprises a central upwardly extending arc-shaped member 22 and at the ends of the side wall two additional upwardly extending arc-shaped members 23, the radius of curvature of the latter being greater than the radius of curvature of the central arc-shaped member 22.

As will appear form Fig. 5 the dimensions of the arc-shaped hinge members 20, 21, 22 and 23 are such that the hinge member 20 overlaps the hinge member 22, whereas the hinge members 23 overlap the hinge members 21. All hinge members are mounted concentrically.

The hinge illustrated also comprises a vertical plate 25 extending upwardly from the lower end of the arc-shaped members 20 and 21 of the side wall and having a height which varies in the longitudinal direction of the plate 25. Thus, the height is higher in the central zone than in the end zones.

As will appear form Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 the plate 25 prevents paint from penetrating into the spaces between the hinge members.